ARLINGTON HEIGHTS -- Hersey took all three points from its encounter with visiting Prospect on Friday after putting in a turbo-charged second half performance to earn a 1-0 hard-fought victory and capture a second-consecutive Mid-Suburban League East Division crown.

The Huskies (10-7-1, 7-2-0) claimed their Senior Night contest at Roland Goins Stadium after junior Gretchen Chianelli delivered a 70th-minute goal that mathematically ended the hopes of second place Elk Grove.

Even if the Grenadiers (11-5-0, 5-4-0) won their final two league fixtures and Hersey lost to Schaumburg and Rolling Meadows, the Huskies will advance to the league’s Soccer Cup thanks to their 3-2 overtime head-to-head win two weeks ago.

"(That) overtime win against Elk Grove really helped turn our team around," said Chianelli, who now has six goals on the season.

"We really began to believe in ourselves after the Elk Grove win," added junior Kiki Craft. “We've been playing our best soccer since then."

Hersey’s latest title is the 11th division crown in program history. Prospect tried to prevent it with an energy-packed, fiery and feisty 80 minutes of soccer.

"Our overall team energy and work-rate was some of the best we've had this year," said Knights sophomore Sienna Murray. “With Sarah (Bradbury) playing great in goal for us, and our defense working so hard to keep their dangerous players from scoring, we were able to stay in this game."

After suffering a severe graduation hit from a year ago, particularly to its backline, Prospect manager Mike Andrews has turned to a fresh unit in front of Bradbury, who shared the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor with Huskies sophomore Gracie Lisota.

"As I've mentioned before, we're starting two freshman, one sophomore and one senior, Elena Katsogianos, who has moved into the backline from playing up-top for nearly forever," said Andrews. “She's provided the glue to a group that gets better and better each game.

"The real challenge came from no. 9 (Lisota) and no. 19 (Abi Beck) out on the left wing. … I thought we did a pretty good job with both of them."

"No. 9 (Lisota) is so dangerous," said Murray. “At times Julia (Valentini) and I would pass her off to one another, and so did Addison (Coval). But it was Julia on her a lot of the times to really give us the support we needed in the back today."

Coval has come in and handled the centerback spot with plenty of confidence despite this being her rookie season. Her backline teammate Maddie Bielecki, also a freshman, has stepped in nicely.

The Lisota-Beck dynamic duo have become a top-flight partnership this season. They have combined for 19 goals and 13 assists and proven to be a major pain for their opposition.

Beck found the outside of the netting at 10 minutes through a nice buildup that began with Craft. But it was motivated Prospect, that saw a lot of the play during the first half hour.

"I know we don't have a lot of victories to show for thus far," offered Andrews. “But if we can come out and play with the heart, intensity and energy that we brought today, I really feel like we can get a win or two and take that momentum into the playoffs.”

"Our energy was some of our best this season," added Murray. “It seemed to help all of us play better tonight.”

The sophomore was key along the back as a disruptive force either stepping into first balls out of the air or stoppng the Huskies when they attempted to string passes together in the final third.

When Andrews moved Valentini deeper to assist his young backline, the visitors were able to hold their own on both sides of the ball.

Seniors Abby Davis, Maeve Morris and Ella Sommers led the Knights attack. They did their best to test a Huskies back-four which was led by Anni Caliendo, Natalie Suto and Finley Wilcox, three of the 10 seniors in the program who were honored before the start of the match.

Hersey slowly found its attacking form during the last eight minutes of the first half.

The home side controlled near 80 percent of the possession as the clock wound down to intermission. Chianelli, Craft and freshman Grace Balis were instrumental in the span.

"Grace came in and gave us some great minutes in the midfield, " said Craft. “To me she was a big reason for this win.”

"We have 3-4 freshmen who have played really well for us this year," said Chianelli. “Today Grace just seemed to be all over the field."

On three occasions before the break, Lisota went close. One of those left-footed crackers could have made it 1-0 if not for an unfriendly bar that turned her away from 22 yards moments before the whistle.

"The thing about Gracie is not only is she a great forward, with so much talent, she is also just so unselfish in her play," said Hersey coach Mike Rusniak. “You saw that today with her ability to connect and find her teammates, yet turn around and go to goal with speed and power."

There was plenty of one-way traffic headed in the direction of the Knights goal and their terrific keeper Sarah Bradbury, who kept her side in the match as long as she could.

"The instincts that Sarah possesses are amazing," said Andrews. “She has a real ability to read danger ahead of time in order to ready herself for just about anything coming her way.

"Even when things get a little intense, she is just never fazed by it. Today you saw her make some key saves for us when we needed them the most."

"We expected a real battle out there tonight," said Rusniak. “Just because it always is when we play Prospect.

"They played with a lot of heart today, but their keeper was really something else. She kept us out of the back of the net on a couple of really great chances that we created."

Prospect had several chances to get on the scoreboard. After a long free kick sailed to the spot, Maddy Mann forced Huskies keeper Sam Fetzer to collect the ball out of the air in a crowd.

Beck anwered with a wicked left-footed blast that Bradbury bravely turned away. Trouble may have ensued when the ball spilled freely to Lisota, but it appeared she may have been wrong-footed when Murray appeared on the scene.

A close-range effort from Chianelli was blocked on the way in at 54 minutes. She next thumped a header toward an open net only to see Bradbury push the attempt wide.

"What I thought Sarah did so well today was to send the shots on frame around the post,” said Andrews. “On several occasions that eliminated sitters for Hersey to collect and shoot."

When Hersey was stretched a bit in its own end, Natalie Suto, sensing danger, came through with a strong tackle to end the bid of Ella Sommers who was sent through after Coval found Mann.

This 62nd minute half-chance was all the Knights (3-8-2, 3-5-1) could muster until the very end as the home side continued in its search for the opener and perhaps game-winner.

Emily Barrett went wide and over at 68 minutes, Lisota got to the endline but was unable to play a ball across when she ran out of room.

The deciding play came after a frantic scrum inside the Knights box that ended when Chianelli somehow found a way to tuck the ball into the net among the crowd to give the Huskies the lead in the 70th minute.

"It wasn't pretty, but a goal is a goal is a goal," Chianelli said with a smile.

"There were a lot of players all around Sarah. I am not too sure if the ball was kicked out of her gloves," said Murray with another perspective on the Chianelli goal.

The Prospect bench did not protest the goal and instead turned its focus on drawing back level in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

Lisota nearly pushed Prospect further behind in the 75th minute, but Bradbury came up big again.

When the shrill of the whistle ended the contest, Hersey was confirmed the division champion.

Prospect played hard right up until the end. The Knights advance from the match with plenty more confidence in advance of its last two league fixtures with Palatine then Elk Grove. In the Class 3A playoffs, they will meet fourth-seeded Libertyville in the first round at Stevenson.

"I am very proud of the effort today against a very good opponent,” Andrews said. “We were up to the challenge right from the start, and we gave a great 80-minute performance until the very end."

"Mike has a lot of very young talent,” Rusniak said. “They will be a force to watch during the next couple of years.

"We had to kind of grind this one out tonight. We had to match the energy that Prospect brought with them. After a bit of a slow start, I thought we did a great job to get the three points we were after.

"We received strong play from our backline, Gracie and Abi were a handful up-top, and we also got some nice play from our bench tonight."

Earlier in the day Rusniak found out his club received the no. 6 seed in the sectional it hosts and will open regional play against 11th-seeded Palatine at Glenbrook North.

Starting lineups

Prospect (4-3-3)
GK- Sarah Bradbury
D- Maddie Bielecki
D- Addison Coval
D- Sienna Murray
D- Elena Katsogianos
M- Julia Valentini
M- Abby Davis
M- Maeve Morris
F- Maddy Mann
F- Ella Sommers
F- Sara McKenna

Hersey (4-4-2)
GK- Sam Fetzer
D- Abby Molster
D- Natalie Suto
D- Finley Wilcox
D- Anni Caliendo
M- Asha Bontje
M- Kiki Craft
M- Gretchen Chianelli
M- Faith Sena
F- Abi Beck
F- Gracie Lisota

Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match: Sarah Bradbury, jr., GK, Prospect; Gracie Lisota, so., F, Hersey

Referee: Maciej Szacic

Scoring summary

First half
No scoring

Second half
Hersey: Chianelli (unassisted), 70'